“Happiness is…Coming Home!”

That’s the motto of the Vicksburg Homecoming Benevolent Club, a group of hometown folks dedicated to remembering their roots.

The VHBC will mark its 36th year with a five-day bash, beginning Thursday night with a homecoming kickoff social at American Legion Post No. 213, also called The Hut, on Main Street.

“Until you’ve been gone for a while, you don’t realize that there’s nothing like coming home,” said Tina Dillard, a member of the club who now lives in Chicago.

The VHBC began in the summer of 1975, when founder Booker T. Wilson attended a family reunion and decided Vicksburg needed an annual event to reunite family and friends.

More than 300 former Vicksburg residents from across the country are expected to attend.

“We’ve had people come from as far as Germany,” said Dillard, a member of the club since its start.